Foreign Students will be Able to Work in Brazil

Foreign higher and postgraduate education students will be able to work in Brazil legally. The rule, published in the Official Federal Gazette is also valid for those who have already finished their courses and intend to stay in the country.

The president of the National Immigration Council, Paulo Sergio de Almeida, explains that before the resolution, foreign students were not allowed to work and they had to return home and put in a new visa request, in order to do so.

“The measure makes Brazil consistent with good international practices, while at the same time, secures qualified labour for the country,” he stated.

Paulo Sergio believes that the measure will reduce the number of students living in informality, as many face difficulties in supporting themselves in Brazil without working.

“We are talking about qualified people, as they were doing graduate and postgraduate courses, working informally or abandoning their studies and staying here, as they could not pay their university”, he says.

The change of a student to a work visa will not be automatic. Students will have to submit the request to the General Immigration Coordination (CGIG, in the Portuguese acronym), from the Ministry of Labour, department that will analyse the cases and issue the permits.

One of the conditions to get a permit is that the position held by the student in their work contract is related to their course’s syllabus.